NATO Chief Admits Afghan Withdrawal 'Entails Risks'

WASHINGTON - There is no guarantee that Afghanistan’s government and security forces will succeed, or even survive, once the last U.S. and coalition troops leave the country, according to a blunt assessment from NATO’s top official.   "We have to face the reality there is, of course, a lot of uncertainty. The decision to leave entails risks,” Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a virtual audience Monday before meetings at the Pentagon and the White House.     According to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees American troops in the Middle East and South Asia, the U.S. withdrawal is nearing the halfway point, with the last U.S. forces, civilian contractors and equipment set to be out of Afghanistan by early September at the latest. NEW: "We've completed about half of the retrograde process" per @CENTCOM Commander Gen Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie briefing reporters

NATO’s own drawdown, involving approximately another 7,000 troops, is also “on track,” Stoltenberg said, defending the decision to send troops home after nearly two decades of battling the Taliban and terrorist groups like al-Qaida and Islamic State.   “You have to remember that in one way, this is a gradual development," Stoltenberg said. “Not too many years ago, we had more than 100,000 troops in a big combat operation."   “Over these years, we have been able to build, train Afghan security forces so they are now responsible for security in their own country," he added.   Yet doubts about the ability of the Afghan security forces to function without substantial, on-the-ground support from U.S. and NATO forces persist.   Since U.S. troops began pulling out last month, Taliban forces have seized at least seven districts, taking some without meeting any resistance.   And a report issued last week by the United Nations Sanctions Monitoring Team for Afghanistan warned that Taliban commanders have increasingly positioned their forces to take by force what they cannot get through negotiations “when levels of departing foreign troops are no longer able to effectively respond."